David Rockwell

One of the most prominent architects and interior designers in the city, Rockwell is the man behind the look and feel of many of the city's most popular restaurants.

Raised alternately in New Jersey and Mexico, Rockwell attended Syracuse before co-founding an architecture studio called Haverson-Rockwell Architects with Jay Haverson in 1984. Together they worked on designs for one-time hotspots like Tatou, Le Bar Bat, Sushi Zen, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Vong. Nine years later, he went off on his own and founded Rockwell Associates, creating a splash in 1994 with his design for Drew Nieporent and Nobu Matsuhisa's sushi hotspot Nobu. Rockwell has continued to design big-ticket restaurants ever since-but he's also branched out into hotel design, set design for Broadway plays, and more. Over the past decade, Rockwell's projects have been as varied as the Academy Awards' new Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, a renovation of Radio City Music Hall (with Hugh Hardy), interiors on Disney Cruise ships, and the Cirque du Soleil theatre in Orlando.

In 2006, Rockwell took on the renovation of the JetBlue Terminal at JFK: He enlisted the help of Broadway choreographer and director Ted Mitchell to help "choreograph the ballet of pedestrian traffic" within the terminal.

Rockwell and his wife, former film producer Marcia Kirkley, have two children, Sam and Lola. They live in Tribeca. [Image via Getty]